Part 1 of the CJ&L Bill - Sentencing
Two key justice Scottish Government priorities are included within Part 1 of the Bill along with a number of other important changes to sentencing law.
Priorities
Provisions in the Bill will establish a Scottish Sentencing Council. This will help ensure greater consistency, fairness and transparency in sentencing and thereby increase public confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system.
We also introduce the new "Community Payback Order" as a replacement for the unnecessarily complex range of community sentencing options currently available. We want sentences served in the community to be more robust, immediate and visible, with lower-level offenders putting something back into the communities they've harmed. Alongside the introduction of the Community Payback Order, provisions have also been agreed to introduce a presumption against prison sentences of 3 months or less. Courts will still be able to imprison an offender for 3 months or less, but will be required to explain why they consider it necessary instead of using an alternative disposals such as the Community Payback Order. We also modify the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007 to create the statutory framework to support a modern regime for managing offenders who are sentenced to custody.
Other measures
Provisions that will:
- make it easier for courts to consider the application of a criminal non-harassment order by removing the precondition for a course of conduct amounting to harassment;
- permit the early removal of certain short-term prisoners from Scottish jails provided they can leave the UK;
- make improvements to the recording by courts of religious and racial aggravations;
- confirm in statute that voluntary intoxication by alcohol can not be a mitigating factor in sentencing; and
- increase flexibility as to when courts can impose an extended sentence in light of offences with a "significant sexual element".